NUCLEAR NOTES

1) We have seen American, British, and Canadian reports on nuclear safety; but frankly none has impressed us as much as the report by a Nuclear Power Commission appointed by the Norwegian Royal Ministry of Oil and Energy, published in Oslo last year and now available in English. Its scope is wider than anything we have seen between two covers¾from radiation through waste disposal and weapons proliferation. Its quality is first rate, yet it talks in language clearly understandable by laymen. And it presents its abundance of data with dispassionate coolness. Distributed by Columbia University Press, 136 S. Broadway, Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 (so it says in the book, but CUP did not think our request for a price quotation worth answering).

2) The squeals of the anti-nukes testified to the effectiveness of the center-spread ad I was the only victim of Three Mile Island in the Wall Street Journal, 7/31/79, bringing a brilliant interview with Dr Edward Teller. (Ralph Nader made the country chuckle when he accused the great scientist of being incorrect on technical matters.) Reprint free from Dresser Industries, Inc., Dresser Bldg., Dallas, TX 75201.

3) Nuclear Power in Perspective, a speech by Dr Harold Agnew (until recently Director of Los Alamos Scientific Labs) is a good summary of the case for nuclear power. Free from General Atomic Co., Box 81608, San Diego, CA 92138.

4) France is installing the world's greatest concentration of nuclear reactors, aiming to get 50% of its electricity from them in the next six years. 50 pressurized water reactors (the type used on Three Mile Island) from 900 to 1,300 MW capacity, have been authorized by the French government, 9 of them after the TMI incident. Two reasons why they are not worried about PWR's after the TMI incident: The design is different, and the French system of computer control leaves less control in the hands of the operator and more in the brains of the computer.

5) Women in Need: Thousands of women in the nuclear industry¾ engineers and other professionals¾are organized in NEW (Nuclear Energy Women). On October 18, 1979, NEW will organize some 2,000 to 5,000 get-togethers over a cup of coffee across the country in a Nuclear Energy Education Day (NEED). Don't let the media censor this effort; to help (NEED) contact NEW's regional chairman. Who is she? Ask Marie Dunkel, AIF, 7101 Wisconsin Ave, Washington, DC 20014, tel. (301) 654-9260, or use a magnifying glass and find your state below: